Cirque du Soleil passing on Chicago this summer

For the past two decades, a touring show from Cirque du Soleil has typically arrived in Chicago every other year. The most recent production was "Ovo" in 2011, performed in the parking lot at the United Center.

The current touring Cirque show, "Totem," is playing the East Coast this spring and was expected to land in Chicago this summer. But there has been no announcement. And on Monday, a Cirque spokesman confirmed there would be no grand chapiteau in Chicago this summer. Cirque has been in a cut-back mode of late.

“While Chicago is not on the tour plans for the next few months,” the Cirque said, “it remains an important market for Cirque.”

In other tent news, the Tribune Company's Riverfront Theater (a tent in the parking lot of the Freedom Center) will not be returning for the 2013 season. The tent was taken down in November; no further plans for the site have been announced.